SEAT OF HONOR – Lennie Baker of Sha Na Na will perform with the Spellbinders Nov. 7 in Centerville.

Will anchor fundraiser in Centerville Saturday

Rock ‘n’ roll is here to stay if Lennie Baker has anything to say about it.

The longtime saxophonist/vocalist with the revivalist music/comedy group Sha Na Na is still performing the oldies but goodies. He’ll appear with the Spellbinders in a benefit concert/dance for the Barnstable-Yarmouth and Falmouth Lions clubs Saturday (Nov. 7) at St. George Greek Orthodox Church in Centerville.

The good times will roll with Baker, the group’s main ballad singer, crooning “In the Still of the Night” and his signature song, the doo-wop version of “Blue Moon,” plus other favorites from the era.

“Fifties music was romantic music,” he said wistfully. “They don’t write songs like that today. They said everything in them.”

Baker, 63, who lives in Halifax, says his voice sounds better than ever.

“I sing twice as good. I don’t know what happened to my voice.”

Baker picked up the clarinet in school when he was 8 and honed his chops in a garage band in the early ‘60s. He became acquainted with Jocko Marcellino, the drummer of Sha Na Na, from playing gigs on the South Shore and the Cape. Baker was going to Northeastern University and playing clubs in Boston’s Combat Zone when Jocko invited him to audition for the retro group. He jumped at the chance.

“They needed a big guy to sing tenor,” he said.

During his audition Baker sang “In the Still of the Night” and played the sax. He was with Sha Na Na for 30 years, appearing in their music variety TV show from 1977 to 1981 and the 1978 movie Grease starring John Travolta and Olive Newton John.

“All the critics panned it,” he said of the movie. “They hated it.” But Baker disagrees.

“It was a wonderful movie. They still send me checks!”

Known as the “round mound of sound on the sax,” Baker looks back fondly at his career with Sha Na Na, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary. The group began in 1969 when a few Columbia University undergraduates got more of a kick singing a cappella covers of 1950s songs than their standard glee club fare. They began touring college campuses and made their debut at the Woodstock Festival. Baker came onboard after that appearance and stayed for three decades.

“I had a wonderful time,” he said of his stint with the retro group. “We played in 49 states and 26 countries. We won awards. We were in movies and had a TV show. It was all good money. I was one of the luckiest guys in the world and I took advantage of it.”

Yet Baker admits he didn’t get to sing as much as he wanted to. “There were 12 guys and I was the background vocalist,” he said. “I just gave up and did my job.”

“They glorified an era that was and always will be,” he said. “The music will never die. You will always have a ‘50s station on your radio.”

Baker left Sha Na Na in 2000 because of health reasons.

“I needed a kidney and I got it from my nephew who lives down the street,” he said.

He stays in contact with some of the roadies, but the regulars have gone their separate ways. His best buddy, “Chico” Ryan, died in 1986. Occasionally he performs with Jon “Bowser” Bauman.

Baker, who is divorced, stopped performing for several years but made a comeback when his health improved. He does a couple of shows a month.

“It’s more than work to a musician,” he said. “I need to perform.”

He gives mixed reviews to today’s music.

“Rap isn’t music. Some of hip hop is pretty good.”

“Blue Moon” remains his favorite song. “I sang it with the Boston Symphony and at Carnegie Hall and all over the world.”

Lennie Baker and the Spellbinders will perform a dance/concert from 7 to 11 p.m. Nov. 7 at St. George Greek Orthodox Church Community Center, 1130 Falmouth Road (Route 28), Centerville. Tickets, $20, are available at the door and at all Puritan Clothing stores. Proceeds will benefit Barnstable-Yarmouth and Falmouth Lions clubs. For information, call 508-477-1869.